Thank you for showing your support by signing the Memorial Field pickleball court petition. Yesterday evening (June 9), four of us presented our case, along with the petition of 130 signatures, to the Recreation Committee.  

We are happy to report that our proposal was well received. However, no decisions were made because it is still relatively early in the process and not all decision makers were present. The committee is still waiting for detailed designs under the existing plan. Overall, there was an openness to having pickleball courts in Hillsdale, but the challenge is finding the appropriate space, whether it is at Memorial Field or elsewhere.  

And of course the costs have to be further examined. On that issue, we also included a general cost comparison of basketball vs. pickleball courts because one option would be to replace one of the planned basketball courts with a pickleball court.  The cost analysis indicates that while pickleball courts are more per square foot ($11-$28 psf) versus basketball courts ($4-$16 psf), basketball courts are bigger, so the total costs are comparable ($35-60k). As a result, there would be little to no incremental cost to change the plan.

We are keeping the petition open until there is a decision one way or another. Please continue to spread the word so that we can present petition updates to both the Rec Committee and the Town Council. Let us know if you would like to get more involved!